Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi announced that he was heading to a nuclear power plant in Zaporozhyewhich has been the target of bombing raids in recent weeks.

“The day has come, the IAEA mission in Zaporozhye is already on its way. We must protect the security of Ukraine and Europe’s largest nuclear power plant,” Mr. Grossi wrote on Twitter, specifying that the team, which he will personally lead, will arrive at the plant “later this week.”

The day has come @IAEAorgMission of support and assistance #Zaporozhye (ISAMZ) is on its way. We must protect safety and security #UkraineEurope’s largest nuclear facility. Proud to have led this mission, which will #ZaES later this week. pic.twitter.com/tyVY7l4SrM

— Rafael MarianoGrossi (@rafaelmgrossi) August 29, 2022

In the photo accompanying his post, the head of the IAEA poses with a group of more than ten workers wearing caps and vests with the organization’s logo.

Mr. Grossi has been asking for months to be allowed to visit the plant, warning that there is a “real risk of a nuclear catastrophe.”

The Zaporozhye plant, which houses six of Ukraine’s 15 nuclear reactors, was captured by Russian forces in early March, days after the February 24 invasion, and is located close to the front lines in the southern part of the country.

Kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of shelling the territory of the plant near the city of Energodar on the Dnieper River, which puts the facility at risk.

The Ukrainian company Energoatom, which manages the site, warned last Saturday of the danger of a radioactive leak and fire following further strikes.

In recent weeks, Zaporozhye has been a growing concern in the West, with the UN calling for an end to all hostilities around the site.

Kyiv initially opposed the IAEA team’s visit, fearing it would legitimize Russian occupation of the site, but eventually supported the idea.

Faced with a “dangerous” situation at the station, President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday demanded that the agency dispatch a team as soon as possible.

On Thursday and Friday, the plant and its six 1,000-megawatt reactors were “completely disconnected” from the national power grid due to cable damage before being reconnected, Kyiv said.

Vladimir Putin agreed to organize a visit that would take place “through Ukraine” and not from Russia, as he had previously stated, the French president said in mid-August following a telephone conversation between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart.

Agony for explosions

Russian artillery shelled Ukrainian towns across the river from the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant yesterday, local officials said, raising concerns among residents as reports of shelling around the plant heightened fears of a nuclear holocaust.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces had shelled the area around the plant again in the past 24 hours, just a day after Moscow and Kyiv exchanged accusations of attacking Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, sparking international concern.

The Ukrainian nuclear energy company Energoatom said it had no new information about shelling in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant.

^{Sources: AFP, APE-MPE.}